By Garrett Pog
In the amount of time I’ve spent reporting, it’s not often that you’ll see a team as positive as Troy City WFC (0-1-1). They needed it in spades Thursday night, as they lost to the Michigan Legends (1-0) 6-0 in Brighton.
TC started off well, controlling the possession and moving the ball up. Unfortunately, a decisive set of passes by the Legends and the left boot of Stephanie Strong (Saginaw Valley State) put the Legends up 1-0 in the 9th minute. Troy City never recovered.
The Legends would start to put a lot of pressure on the back line, which prevented the away squad from being able to move the ball effectively by themselves, as well as to their teammates.
The Legends would capitalize off of misreads by Troy to score two more goals before halftime. This defensive mindset from Troy allowed for the Legends to move the ball at will for multiple possessions.
There was lots of communication on the bench, and talks of switching the formations and mindset throughout the evening. Coming out of halftime, Simona Iacobacci (Lourdes) and Amy Sidaway (Christopher Newport) felt confident about the shift to a 4-4-2, as well as getting everybody on the same page about playing forward and pressuring more on defense.
Still, Troy City would find themselves out-of-sync, not having options to pass to, and not winning the second ball, as was discussed a lot throughout the evening. Easy counter attacks for the home side gave way for 3 more goals to be put up before the final whistle.
Many Troy girls would make individual improvements, such as Cecily Hughes (Lourdes) being out of position for most of the first half, only to come back from the locker room and constantly put pressure on the offense as an outside back. After the game, Keira Boskovich (Lourdes) told the team to “cling to the good things that happened. Whether you won a ball, or got a good shot off, remember those, not the loss.” Alanna Earl (Adrian) would take a different approach, saying “Other teams are going to see that we lost by a lot and think we’re an easy team, and that should piss you off to no end.”
In the end, Head Coach John Arndt would say “This is what your summer’s all about. Getting minutes, and playing against teams like this.” He would add that playing against tough teams is the best way to improve, and that being in game shape and getting more playing takes precedence above all else.
“We’re going to have to score goals. If we don’t score goals, we’re not going to win. We have to create more opportunities for us to do that. It’ll be tough, but the girls like to talk and have ideas, and I’m all for it. Anything we can do to get more numbers forward, I’m for it,” said Arndt.
The Troy City squad will have a lot to ponder about through the Memorial Day weekend, before they start play in the MPSL next Thursday against the Michigan Jaguars. Depending on if their head coach is still coaching in the High School State Tournament, that date could be changed.
You can follow Garrett Pog @itsGarrettPog on X and Instagram. You can email him at garrettpog@gmail.com for any inquiries. https://wearesoccer.substack.com/p/troy-city-wfc-gets-outclassed-in